The search for identity: Defining social work - Past, present, future

The quest for status and identity has occupied center stage since social wo rk's inception. This article reviews some of the factors that affect the de finition of social work and its place in society and identifies the major f orces affecting the boundaries of the profession now and into the future. I t is argued that social work is defined by its place in the larger social e nvironment at any given time and that external economic, social, and politi cal forces have been more influential in shaping the nature of practice tha n intraprofessional choices. Periodic debates about the status and identity of the profession, its appropriate locus of concern, and the adequacy of i ts knowledge base, among other issues, are appropriate and positive. Such d ebates signify awareness of the dynamism of social work and its capability to respond to and address a changing world.